Dec. 18, 2004
Box Score
(SAN DIEGO, CA) - The USD Toreros turned in their second straight outstanding defensive effort in handing visiting Northern Arizona a 65-56 defeat. It is USD's second straight win and third in their last four outings. The win also improves the Toreros' record at the JCP to 4-1 with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos coming to town on Wednesday, Dec. 22nd (7:05 p.m.). Brice Vounang scored 20 points, Nick Lewis had a double-double with 13 points/10 rebounds, and Corey Belser matched his career-high of 13 boards and shut down NAU's Kelly Golob (11 points) in the process.
In the first half the Toreros edged ahead by 5 points at 17-12 with 11:18 to go on a jumper by Brandon Gay. From there NAU battled back and the game would be knotted on four different occasions, before USD would go up 33-29 with :10 seconds left on a jumper by Avi Fogel. NAU's Ruben Boykin nailed a trey at the buzzer with USD heading into the locker room with a slim 33-32 advantage.
It was more of the same in the 2nd half as the Toreros couldn't shake the Lumberjacks, finding themselves with just a 49-46 lead with just over 10 minutes to go. Over the next 4 minutes USD extended their lead to 7 at 55-48 with Nick Lewis canning two free throws and bombing in a trey. Over the final three minutes of play USD outscored NAU 8-2 to close out the victory. USD's defense held NAU to just 24 second half points.
The Toreros also got a big boost with the return of guard Michael Hubbard. The sophomore out of Los Angeles played 19 minutes and hit a big three in the 2nd half when the Toreros found themselves down by one (40-39) with about 14 minutes to go. The trey gave USD the lead and they would never fall behind again in the contest.
The win avenges USD's loss to these same Lumberjacks a year ago in Flagstaff where NAU bombed in 17 treys in the 91-81 victory. In that contest Kelly Golob made 10-13 treys for 30 minutes; tonight Corey Belser limited him to just 7 shots and 11 points.
USD outrebounded the Lumberjacks 44-31 and grabbed a season-best 14 offensive boards. Although the Toreros struggled with their shooting some, they were solid again on the free throw line (14-19; 73.7%).
